Integrity Cruise

Day 80: Longueuil to Ste. Anne de Belleveu, Quebec

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Day 80: Monday, July 4th: Today started with Ruth walking back into town to buy some groceries while Bill filled the water tank and made other preparations.

This was to be another day of unknowns in spite if its short distance. We wanted to traverse what is called "the St. Lawrence Seaway" through the Montreal area. Montreal City is on Montreal Island, one of many islands in the area. The river is actually full of swift current and rapids which big ships have trouble navigating, so they built a canal around the south side of all the trouble, inserted a couple of giant locks and called it the "Seaway".

The Seaway began just outside and south of the Longueuil Marina. As we left this morning the Montreal skyline greeted us again, as did a huge amusement park:

We moved into the Seaway and almost had the place to ourselves. The first bridge was a mile or so south; it looked like a drawbridge in the "up" position but this is a "fixed" bridge. It is this high to accommodate the ships that come through. Rush-hour automobile traffic would not put up with a raised bridge in this busy metropolitan area.

We were told to expect up to 3-4 hour delays at the two locks in the Seaway because of big ships locking through. However today we were very lucky; we didn't have to even slow down. Both the locks were waiting because several other boats had been there ahead of us for a while. The locks were formidable!

The lock had two sets of gates: one for the big ships, one for the little ships. Pleasure craft took the last priority:

We were five little boats:

The way it works is: you move into the lock at the lockmaster's signal, and they throw ropes down to you to hold onto so you don't get pushed around in the lock. The boats in the lock often have to raft-up. The boats in front of us did, although there were 700 feet of lock open behind us:

We saw one ship in the Seaway. It wasn't very big, but we hugged the right side of the channel. This was typical view: both banks are "spoil," which is the term for the dirt dredged out to make the canal. Over the years, the vegetation has grown up to make it a fairly pretty landscape:

The bridges are all very high and rise even higher. The closest bridge is a fixed bridge, while the railroad bridge is a lift bridge:

Once out of the Seaway we had to take a sort of zigzag route out of the St. Lawrence River and into the Ottawa River. Along the way are some very nice neighborhoods and, of course, they have their churches! Ruth likes the ones with open belfries. Silver roof again:

We were moving toward the Sainte Anne de Belleveu Canal which is at the west end of Montreal Island where Montreal is situated. This is a short canal, maybe Ľ mile long, with a large lock that marries the waters of Montreal with the Ottawa River. It is at the town of Saint Anne de Belleveu, another French Canadian village that is full of restaurants.

We tied up to the canal wall (free, once you buy the seasonal pass). This is the site of the local promenade and it is well-used by people by the hundreds. We never figured out where they all lived because the local town is very small. The promenade was a few steps higher than the boats moored in the canal. Look closely to see some of the smaller boats:

There are about fifteen restaurants along the promenade and they are very popular. Mostly "resto-bars" with terraces. We were told they are all very good. We had a late lunch at Annie's: Tropics in Quebec! It was very good:

Here we are on the promenade with the canal behind us:

We walked up to the lock a short distance away. It was very large but only lifts or drops boats about five feet. This placard tells the history of the lock but it is hard to read; sorry:

We went for a walk around the canal and lock after supper. Above the lock (we were below it) we spotted this boat and thought the name was delightful!

On the upriver side is a "range". This is a navigation aid like a buoy. The range consists of a low, forward marker and a high, more distant marker; they are usually lighted for night use. Bill is leaning against the lower, forward marker. You can see the higher marker in the distance over his right shoulder. We'll show the range in use when we leave (we hope).

Oh, yes! In the twilight, we walked by the local church! Open belfry:

We peeked into the lock control station which looked like this. Sort of simple looking. The lock was closed now:

We decided to stay another day in Saint Anne de Bellevue to do some chores and such. It was charming! We also learned we had no access to the internet. The cell system was out, and we couldn't figure out why. More on this later.

Position tonight: N45 24.207 W073 57.156

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